On 13 April, 1802, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana
granted sixteen hundred arpents of land near certain rivers named
in the grant, with directions to survey the same in a vacant place
of the royal domain, but no survey was made before the cession of
Louisiana to the United States.
By the Court:
"As the grant contained no description of the land granted and
was not located within the time prescribed by the Act of Congress
of 10 March, 1804, it comes directly within the point decided by
this Court in the case of
John Smith, T., and cannot be
confirmed."
The case is fully stated in the opinion of the Court.
MR. JUSTICE BALDWIN delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an appeal from the decree of the District Court of
Missouri rejecting the claim of the appellants to sixteen hundred
arpents of land in that state, for the confirmation of which they
had filed their petition pursuant to the provisions of the act of
1824 for the adjustment of land claims in that state.
The petition was in the form prescribed by the law, presenting a
proper case for the jurisdiction of the court.
The claim of the petitioners was founded on an application by
Mackey Wherry to the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana on 15
April, 1802, for a grant of sixteen hundred arpents of land near
the Rivers Dardennes and Mississippi in the vacant lands of the
King, which he shall point out at the time of the survey. On the
18th of the same month, this application was granted by the
lieutenant governor with directions to survey the quantity demanded
in a vacant place of the royal domain, but no survey appears to
have been made before 10 March. 1804.
As this grant contained no description of the lands granted and
was not located before the time prescribed by the act of 1824,
Page 35 U. S. 339
submitting these cases to judicial cognizance, it comes directly
within the point decided by this Court in the case of
Smith v.
United States at this term, and cannot be confirmed. It is
therefore our opinion that the title of the petitioners to the land
claimed and described in their petition is not valid.
The decree of the district court is affirmed.
This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record
from the District Court of the United States for the District of
Missouri, and was argued by counsel, on consideration whereof it is
ordered, adjudged, and decreed by this Court that the decree of the
said district court in this cause be and the same is hereby
affirmed.